eyeball
/ˈʌɪbɔːl
/noun
1The round part of the eye of a vertebrate, within the eyelids and socket.The surgeon uses a wire speculum to retract the eyelids to expose the eyeball....
- Instead it was a mixture of lips, eyelids, eyeballs, nostrils, udders, spare skin, throat, larynx and so forth.
- The orbit is a socket for the eyeball, muscles, nerves, and vessels that are necessary for proper functioning of the eye.
1.1 (eyeballs) Marketing Used to refer to the number of people who visit a website, watch a television programme or channel, read a publication, etc., especially when regarded as a potential source of revenue: I think we got a few more eyeballs on the site the series continues to draw eyeballs to CBS on Wednesdays media compete to attract eyeballs...
- Documentaries have limited runs in theatres, and are subject to limited eyeballs and competition from feature films.
- What I worry about the most is the competition for young eyeballs.
- The games attract legions of fans, millions of eyeballs and the nation's best recruits.
verb [with object] informal
Look or stare at closely: we eyeballed one another...
- She pulled her cloak around herself tighter as she stared around, and men eyeballed her.
- While manager at Valencia, he confronted Romario, eyeballing the great Brazilian, to demand he ‘look into my eyes.’
- And then I tapped the tip here and there to cover up any areas of white that the whorls might have missed, just in case the scanner was looking at a specific sector instead of eyeballing the oval in its entirety.
Phrases
eyeball to eyeball
give someone the hairy eyeball
up to the (or one's) eyeballs